Care home manager stole from vulnerable residents

Nine people with severe learning difficulties had their accounts raided by Adam Khan, 53, who ran two homes in south Manchester. Khan was in charge of round-the-clock care and trusted as a named signatory on residents’ accounts because they were unable to manage their own money. But for three years he helped himself to cash totalling £7,590.

GUILTY... Adam Khan stole thousands of pounds from vulnerable people in his care

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A care home manager stole thousands of pounds from vulnerable residents in his care.

Nine people with severe learning difficulties had their accounts raided by Adam Khan, 53, who ran two homes in south Manchester.

Khan was in charge of round-the-clock care and trusted as a named signatory on residents’ accounts because they were unable to manage their own money.

But for three years he helped himself to cash totalling £7,590.

His crimes only came to light when bosses switched accounting systems and discovered that £15,000 was missing, of which half can be directly linked to Khan by a paper trail.

Khan – who worked for a company called North West Community Services - has now admitted nine charges of theft in a Manchester Crown Court hearing.

He stole up to £1,750 on each occasion, but claimed he cannot remember why he stole the money or what he did with it. Khan ran the Moordale care home in Withington for three years from 2004. He then moved on to a home at nearby Barlow Moor Road, where he worked until the offences came to light in 2008.

Khan, of Barnard Avenue, Whitefield, claims to be suffering from a crippling back condition and appeared in court in a wheelchair.

Police were unable to charge him for 18 months because of ‘difficulties in him attending a police station for interview’, the court heard. Since then the case has been through 26 court hearings – most of which were fruitless because Khan didn’t show up.

After a suggestion he was too sick for jail or community punishment, Judge Roger Thomas QC delayed sentencing for a detailed assessment into his condition.

Judge Thomas told the court that it was ‘not unusual’ for ‘a man in his mid-fifties’ to have a bad back.

"What does seem unusual", the judge added, "Is this man claims not to remember his offending and puts himself forward as a man who can do next to nothing."

David Abbott, defending, suggested that his client be spared jail because his health. "I would be asking the court to take the view that mercy ought to be extended to the defendant because of his medical condition; that the court can draw back from a custodial sentence, which would be the norm with this sort of offence."

Judge Thomas said there would be no point passing a suspended sentence if Khan were unable to ‘do prison’ – and that the ‘net result’ would be Khan ‘escaping his offending’.

Mr Abbott accepted that Khan could serve his time on the hospital wing if handed a jail sentence. The shamed care worker has also offered to pay his victims compensation.

"It’s certainly fair to say the defendant kept all this from his wife, because of his embarrassment, until recently", Mr Abbott said.

He added: "They have prevailed on their relatives to lend them sums of money so that they can make a payment to the court, so that the victims are compensated."